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| Electronic Exchange's Early Opening to Coincide with European Trading Hours, Creating More Open, Transparent Markets |
CHICAGO, Nov 23, 2004 /PRNewswire-FirstCall via COMTEX/ -- The Archipelago Exchange (ArcaEx), the world's largest all-electronic stock exchange, today announced plans to open for trading at 4 AM Eastern Time for all U.S. listed and OTC stocks, pending Securities and Exchange Commission approval. Currently, ArcaEx opens at 8 AM Eastern Time for early trading. The earlier open is designed to coincide with European trading hours. By providing readily available access to U.S. based liquidity during their trading hours, European investors can benefit from the order interaction and price discovery available on ArcaEx in the opening session. The early open is particularly important for trading ADRs and other exchange-listed foreign stocks. "Consistent with our focus on openness, fairness and transparency, operating ArcaEx for this extended period provides a vehicle for order matching and price competition during ordinary market hours for European traders," said Michael Cormack, President of the Archipelago Exchange. "The ability to easily cater to the needs of overseas markets is one of the many advantages of being an electronic exchange, and we look forward to giving market participants the tools that will enable them to interact more efficiently during this time period." ArcaEx will disseminate quote and trading information via the consolidated tape, and ArcaEx's regulator - the Pacific Exchange - will provide regulatory oversight during the early open period. As a result of the earlier opening, ArcaEx will run the opening auction at 4 AM ET. This service is expected to be made available in the first quarter of 2005. About ArcaEx Archipelago Holdings Inc. (PCX: AX) operates the Archipelago Exchange (ArcaEx(R)), the first totally open all-electronic stock exchange in the United States to trade Nasdaq-listed equity securities and exchange listed equity securities, including those traded on the New York Stock Exchange(R), American Stock Exchange(R) and Pacific Exchange(R). ArcaEx offers corporate issuers and investors the advantages of meeting directly, without intermediaries within a fully electronic and totally transparent environment. ArcaEx is a facility of and regulated by the Pacific Exchange, a registered exchange. ArcaEx was approved by the Securities and Exchange Commission in October 2001 and ArcaEx began trading operations in March 2002. The Archipelago ECN, a precursor to ArcaEx, was one of the four original ECNs, formed in December 1996 with Townsend Analytics. For more information please visit http://www.arcaex.com. Certain statements in this press release may contain forward-looking statements within the meaning of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. These statements are based on Archipelago's current expectations and involve risks and uncertainties that could cause Archipelago's actual results to differ materially from those set forth in the statements. There can be no assurance that such expectations will prove to be correct. Factors that could cause Archipelago's results to differ materially from current expectations include: general economic and business conditions, industry trends, competitive conditions, regulatory developments as well as other risks or factors identified in Archipelago's Prospectus, dated August 12, 2004, and form 10-Q dated November 9, 2004, each of which are filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission, and available on Archipelago's website: http://www.archipelago.com.
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| "Safe Harbor" Statement under the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995: Statements in this press release regarding Archipelago Holdings, Inc.'s business which are not historical facts are "forward-looking statements" that involve risks and uncertainties. For a discussion of such risks and uncertainties, which could cause actual results to differ from those contained in the forward-looking statements, see "Risk Factors" in the Company's Annual Report or Form 10-K for the most recently ended fiscal year. |